Interim Prince George's schools superintendent [Shawn Joseph] left controversy in Nashville schools

...Joseph will take over as a national search for the next superintendent is conducted. His tenure as the leader of the Nashville school system was mired in controversy and he eventually agreed to leave.

His contract in Nashville was bought out. According to media reports, Joseph was criticized for not properly handling multiple sexual harassment complaints made not against him but against other employees, and for securing no-bid contracts.

Some of those who filed sexual harassment complaints sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Joseph resisted calls for him to resign in December 2018.

Nashville board members spoke for and against Joseph at a meeting in April 2019, where his separation agreement was announced...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/prince-georges-county/interim-prince-georges-schools-superintendent-left-controversy-in-nashville-schools/3937743/

MCPS History: The curious case of John Q. Porter [Carey Wright took John Q. Porter to Mississippi when she became State Superintendent] @MdPublicSchools

"Federation Corner" column 

The Montgomery Sentinel - January 17, 2008 

The curious case of John Q. Porter 

by Wayne Goldstein

To many in this county, the name John Q. Porter may be no more recognizable to them than John Q. Public, although Mr. Porter has had and continues to have an extremely interesting life compared to Mr. Public. 2000 was a big year for Mr. Porter. In August 2000, 400 guests watched as he was chosen for a second term as chairman of the Chamber Workforce Corporation's (CWC), a merger of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the county Workforce Development Corp., a job training agency. Problems in the Chamber organization before the merger had become more serious after the merger took place in June 1999, a few months before Mr. Porter first took the helm of CWC. These problems then became so severe that the county government stepped in and broke up the merger in October 2001, taking charge of the job training agency itself, shortly after Mr. Porter completed his second term.

In March 2000, Mr. Porter was hired by Superintendent Weast as interim head of the schools' Office of Global Access Technology (OGAT) after his predecessor was fired because a $4 million computerized student information system did not work properly. Weast was so pleased with Mr. Porter's performance that he soon made him the permanent chief information officer of OGAT. In July 2004, Weast also made him the new deputy superintendent for strategic technologies and accountability

Events continued to go very well for Mr. Porter, such that on April 26, 2007, it was announced: "The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) has successfully concluded its national search for a new superintendent with the selection today of John Q. Porter, an accomplished national leader recognized for his breakthrough initiatives in the use of technology to transform student learning, improve academic performance and increase accountability." Cliff Hudson, Chairman of the OKCPS Board of Education, stated: "John is the right person at the right time and his broad experience in law, business and education will be of great value in his new position with our district."

Mr. Porter started his new job on July 2, 2007. Barely six months later, on January 7, 2008: "After a two-hour executive session, the Oklahoma City school board voted to suspend its superintendent immediately with pay pending an investigation into accusations against him. The board voted to appoint [an] acting superintendent until an open hearing is held on Feb. 6. ...The allegations include that Dr. John Q. Porter improperly agreed to a $365,000 contract for the school district without getting bids. [He] also took about $2,400 from the school district's activity fund for personal expenses and was reimbursed about $5,000 for personal air travel."..

fedcorner20080117.pdf (montgomerycivic.org)

Jack R. Smith Now Works for Same Search Firm Handling @mocoboe Superintendent Search #SmallWorld

Whenever the Montgomery County Board of Education needs a new superintendent they hire the same search firm.

Hazard, Young and Attea has been the search for for the Board of Education since at least 1999.  

Former Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack R. Smith now works for Hazard, Young, and Attea as a consultant.  

From Smith's bio: 

...He then served as Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland for the next five years, overseeing a multi-billion-dollar budget, and guiding the school system through the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other complex and difficult situations. Additionally, he worked with staff to develop the Be Well 365 system to support student well being. He also designed and implemented an equity and achievement framework to increase access and opportunity and support learning for historically underserved populations...

https://hyasearch.com/profile/jack-smith/

Superintendent Searches: "...head hunters who seek out candidates rather than opening up the job to any and all comers...:

Same Names, Different District: Why Superintendent Searches Can Be a Game of Musical Chairs

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2018/05/different_district_same_name_why_the_same_names_keep_popping_up_in_school_districts.html

Former Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance indicted on 4 counts of perjury

Former Baltimore County school superintendent Dallas Dance was indicted Tuesday on four counts of perjury for failing to disclose nearly $147,000 in pay he received for private consulting with several companies and school districts beginning in 2012, the Maryland State Prosecutor announced.

The four-count indictment handed down by a Baltimore County grand jury alleges the former superintendent falsely stated on financial disclosure forms filed with the county school district that he earned no additional income personally or through his consulting company, Deliberate Excellence, in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Each perjury count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. Dance is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on Feb. 12...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-co-dallas-dance-20180122-story.html

school board to pay over $3M to students molested by teacher -- 12 years later

BOCA RATON, Fla. (CBS12) — The Palm Beach County school board is about to pay four students more than $3.5-million 12 years after they claimed their teacher molested them inside Coral Sunset Elementary School.

Four girls, who were third graders at the time, said their teacher Blake Sinrod inappropriately touched them.

One of the victims told police at the time that Sinrod put his hands on her private parts and placed her hand on his...

...Now over a decade later, the school board is set to vote to settle the lawsuit for millions.

Court documents from February show the school board deployed a defense it claims to use often, known as comparative negligence.

Writing in court filings indicate the “plaintiffs were old enough to appreciate the consequences of their own actions and to be held accountable for them.” It went on to say that the “plaintiffs conducted themselves in a careless and negligent manner and such negligence was a contributing and or the sole proximate cause of their injuries and damages.”...

http://cbs12.com/news/local/pbc-school-board-to-pay-over-3m-to-students-molested-by-teacher-12-years-later

There currently is no criminal penalty for someone who has knowledge of child abuse and fails to report in the state of Maryland

The Parents' Coalition asked the Maryland Mandated Reporter Website if there were any criminal penalties for the failure of a mandated reporter to report knowledge of child abuse.  This means that the Montgomery County Board of Education and all MCPS administrators can have knowledge of child abuse and do nothing without fear of criminal penalties.  

Now you know why child abuse, including sexual abuse, of students can occur at such high rates in our public schools. The adults in charge of our schools are never, ever held accountable.  

-------------------------------

July 5, 2017

Thank you for your question submission on BCAC’s Mandated Reporter Website regarding failure to report penalties in Maryland.

While there currently is no criminal penalty for someone who has knowledge of child abuse and fails to report in the state of Maryland, you may be subject to professional sanctions by licensing boards depending on your profession. Additionally, according to Maryland Family Law 5-705.2, if an individual intentionally prevents or interferes with someone making a report of suspected abuse (i.e. attempting to obstruct a report), they can be found guilty of a misdemeanor and if convicted, be subject to up to 5 years in prison, or a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

...

Sincerely,

...

Baltimore Child Abuse Center
2300 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-396-6147
www.baltimorechildabusecenter.org

How PGCPS Executives transferred Corruption And got Caught

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that Metro Schools Director Shawn Joseph put unlicensed educators in positions of power inside the district.
Now the state has ordered the district to remove any unlicensed principals — and it’s taking a hard look at other top district leaders.
When Joseph took the helm back in July, he brought with him a large group of people with whom he had worked in other states.
But our investigation discovered that, for months, many were not actually licensed to work in Tennessee — and some still aren’t...

https://pgcpsmess.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/how-pgcps-executives-transferred-corruption-and-got-caught/

@MCPS partner Pearson plunges as digital switch forces new profit warning

Pearson lost almost a third of its market value on Wednesday after it ditched its profit and dividend forecasts in a battle to respond to a shift to digital that has already hit the music and newspaper industries.
Education group

The world's biggest education company, which traditionally makes most of its profit from textbooks and testing, is facing structural turmoil as customers turn to cheaper digital alternatives, or choose to rent instead of buy content.

The greatest change is being felt in North America, its biggest market, where a fall in college enrollment numbers due to an improving economy have compounded the digital switch.
Shares in the 173-year-old British company fell 30 percent on Wednesday, on course for their worst day ever and wiping off 1.9 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), after the group said it could no longer put a figure on its 2017 dividend, piling pressure on CEO John Fallon...

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/pearson-plunges-as-digital-switch-forces-new-profit-warning.html

This report is the only comprehensive account of a half-century of abuse and coverup at the Horace Mann School.

On June 6, 2012, when the decades long history of sexual abuse of students at the Horace Mann School was revealed in a New York Times Magazine cover story, the response both inside and outside the school community was unalloyed shock. Questions swirled as new allegations of
abuse emerged in the weeks and months after publication. As the number of alleged abusers rose
to the double digits it became clear that what had happened at Horace Mann was orders of
magnitude beyond the abhorrent occurrence of an individual teacher imposing sexual activity
on a student.
What happened at Horace Mann represents the largest concentration of abusers at a single
institution. Such things do not happen by chance, and the situation at Horace Mann was
enabled by a culture of arrogance and secrecy, aided by individual acts of cowardice and denial
by administrators, board members, and teachers. Thus enabled, abuse was a
llowed to thrive for
decades. This institutional dynamic the tacit collusion of abuser and administrator to keep
things under wraps must be understood, and eliminated, in order to keep our children safe.
There is no safety in secrecy, whether it is at the behest of an administrator, a board member or an abuser. Secrecy aids abusers, harms victims and creates more victims, each one preventable...

 http://makingschoolsafe.com/the-report/

Washington Post and Gazette fooled again by MCPS

Tofig admits that $25,000 stock trading fund never really existed at Gaithersburg High School

Stock Trading Room equipment mysteriously disappears

The MCPS announcement on November 26, 2006 was big news.   "Gaithersburg High School Celebrates Opening of First High School Stock Trading Room in Nation."  Funded by a $75,000 grant from the NASDAQ foundation, the school had received an electronic ticker board, a NASDAQ data board, and other equipment to support the Academy of Finance program.  This was a huge win for a school that had a high poverty rate, declining test scores and a seriously decaying building.

Adding even more excitement, MCPS claimed that "Students Have $25,000 Fund to Trade", donated by "a longtime supporter of the school system who wishes to remain anonymous."  And for good measure, according to the announcement, "the school will keep any profits in the account."

The Washington Post and The Gazette both picked up the story, devoting considerable coverage to the grand opening of the trading room.  

"The most intriguing part, financial educators say, is that students will invest real money," wrote Daniel de Vise of the Washington Post.  "You have to have real money involved in order to get the students to take it seriously," said Scott Hoover, adviser to the student investment club at Washington and Lee University. "If you can get the students to take it seriously, they can do wonders."

In the Gazette, reporter Jamie Ciavarra included a quote from Principal Darryl Williams:  "Any money the students make will go back to the school to fund additional programs, while the donor has agreed to absorb any losses."

It sounded almost too good to be true.   And in fact, it wasn't true, according to a letter obtained last week from MCPS Public Information Officer Dana Tofig.  The $25,000 "donation" never took place.  No investment profits have been contributed to the school.  The "real money" that was "needed to get the students take the program seriously" was as fictitious as the profits that were contributed to the school.  

Adding further insult to the integrity of the finance program at GHS, the electronic ticker board, the NASDAQ data board and other equipment obtained with the $75,000 NASDAQ grant have disappeared from the school.  

"No one knows what happened to it," said a GHS finance teacher at an onsite visit by a Parents' Coalition member. The only physical evidence that the NASDAQ-funded equipment ever existed are the screw holes in the wall where the large displays were mounted.  

As for evidence that the anonymous donation "never came to fruition" -- or even that there was an anonymous donor at all --  the Parents' Coalition has requested documentation showing that someone had planned to fund the trading account.   So far, however, MCPS has not come forth with anything, even with names redacted, that shows that anyone ever intended to create the stock trading fund.

(Photo of Superintendent Jerry Weast yucking it up on opening day is from The Gazette archives.)


   

BOE Members: Should Foreclosure and Bankruptcy Matter?

Back in 1999, Montgomery County was looking for a new superintendent.  The Board of Education released the name of Elfreda Massie as a finalist for the position.  But, two days after the announcement the following happened: 

Elfreda W. Massie bowed out yesterday as Montgomery County's leading candidate for school superintendent, just two days after revelations of her personal bankruptcy filings stunned school board members and threw her candidacy into a tailspin...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/june99/massie6.htm

and

 http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-595158.html

Now in 2014, a Board of Education member and spouse are facing foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings.  Do these proceedings matter to the ability of a Board of Education member to serve in their position?

Can a person in bankruptcy hold a position of trust?   

Would you want them to be your financial advisor?

What about the due diligence of the other Board Members who know or should know about this matter?

Or do they? 

Joynes' Last Principal Out of MCPS Prior to Start of Trials

Chronology of events: 

  Marinda Thomas Evans appointed as New Hampshire Estates principal May 24, 2010.

 ...Marinda Thomas Evans, principal of New Hampshire Estates Elementary School, said Friday parents were alerted about the arrest via the school’s ConnectEd phone message system on Thursday night. She said an additional letter is expected to go home with students recapping the incident.

“We have no reason to believe that” any Montgomery County students were involved in the pornography images, she told The Gazette Friday...    Gazette, March 1, 2013

 Two years ago, Herrera scheduled a meeting with New Hampshire Estates' principal to address mounting concerns of questionable language, lectures and touching; valid issues she contends, that fell on deaf ears.
"The principal never did nothing. 'Oh he's weird, he's weird,' they'd say, and that was it," Herrera added.
Although Joynes' was disciplined in November 2011, school leaders neglected to inform parents or police.ABC7, February 8, 2014

...Marinda Thomas Evans, who became the New Hampshire Estates principal three years ago, was at the meeting, but Mills did most of the talking. School officials said later that Evans was not available for comment.
“I assure you that when I have the evidence and the pattern, I move it to the next level,” Mills said at the meeting...
The Washington Post, April 21, 2013 

On 11-18-2011... New Hampshire Estates Elementary School (NHE) principal placed conditions upon Joynes that included, activities only in public areas, classroom door to remain open during instruction, stay off playground during recess, no sitting at the cafeteria with students, use of staff restrooms only, don't be alone with any student in classroom, and no touching of students in any form.       

Charging documents released to the public by the Parents' Coalition

(Baltimore Co.)

Lawrence Joynes remained in the classroom at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School until he was arrested by Homeland Security in Baltimore County on February 28, 2013.  Since that arrest Mr. Joynes has been held continuously in jail in Baltimore County and Montgomery County.  Mr. Joynes has two upcoming trials in Montgomery County. 

  2014 NHE Principal by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Teen Rescued After Climbing Cell Tower #getthecellout #attractivenuisance #celltowersdontbelongonplaygrounds

Teen Rescued After Climbing Cell Tower In Northfield « CBS Chicago

MCPS isn't #1

Apparently, Montgomery County Public Schools isn't even #1 in the State of Maryland.

See the charts released today by The Washington Post.

How is this going to impact sales of "highly rigorous" Pearson Forward?

The Board of Education is counting on the royalties from that super cool Superintendent Jerry Weast deal! (Free trip with purchase!) 

Weast No Bid $545,693 Annual Deal Lives on with Joshua Starr

On Tuesday, June 17, 2014, the Montgomery County Board of Education will make their annual half-a-million dollar payment to Wireless Generation, now called Amplify Education, Inc.

Superintendent Jerry Weast set up this backroom deal back in 2004 and Superintendent Joshua Starr is keeping it going.  Starr has even met with Wireless Generation in New York City!

Did the Board of Education ever vote to purchase this product? No.

Did the Board of Education ever vote to invest $500,000 in this company? No.

Did taxpayers ever see the "seven figure return on sales of the product over 3 years?" No!

But, no worries for Amplify, Inc.  The deal will be "extended" tomorrow and they will get a check for $545,693.


----------------------
Here's some more background on Wireless Generation/Amplify from 2010: 

Taxpayers have already seen the results of Superintendent Weast's "certain investment in a certain company".  As best as the public can ascertain, Superintendent Weast made a $500,000 to $1,000,000 investment [on behalf of MCPS] in a company called Wireless Generation around 2004. How does the public know that? The investment wasn't brought before the Board of Education for discussion or a vote. The investment was revealed in an article [they don't want you to read it anymore - the document is now behind a pay wall] put out by the Harvard Business School.

Did the investment yield a profit for taxpayers? Apparently, not. While no accounting was made for this investment in Board of Education meetings, Maryland Public Information Act requests by members of the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County yielded some information in 2009. The results of our MPIA requests can be read here and here.   

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2010/01/gambling-with-tax-dollars-v-certain.html

Brickyard Coalition and its Convenient Memory Lapse

Yesterday, I received an odd email from the Brickyard Coalition, here in Montgomery County.

Here is the 'breaking news" from the Coalition - they have decided to endorse Doug Duncan in the upcoming Democratic Primary for County Executive. 

Are they serious?  I asked them, and have yet to get a response.

Remember back to 2003 when Steve Silverman, then a County Council member, went public with his plan to bring affordable housing to the Brickyard site?  Here is the Gazette article from November 19, 2003. 

Turns out, that a few weeks before, the COUNTY EXECUTIVE DOUG DUNCAN demanded that the Montgomery County Board of Education turn over all property not currently planned for school purposes.  You can see the March 22, 2004 Board of Education memorandum below. 

Even more surprising at the time - the County and the Board of Education had been turning over numerous school sites, in secret, without any public hearing or notice.  We were only tipped off to this transfer because of Steve Silverman's slip of the tongue.

Without going into all the history, many of us learned a lot about our elected representatives, who we thought we could trust.   The resulting battle also cost a lot of folks a substantial amount in legal fees.

Even after the property was "saved" from housing, the ever trusted right hand to Mr. Duncan, Jerry Pasternak, subsequently tried to turn the Brickyard property into soccer fields.   With more legal fees.

What has changed?  Can we trust Doug now?

Brickyard

So - did the Brickyard Coalition simply forget? Has Doug Duncan changed his mind about the property? Is Jerry Pasternak still Doug's right hand go to man?  Or does Doug still want to use the property for housing? If I were a member of the Brickyard Coalition, I would think carefully before I would endorse an official who generated much angst and huge legal bills for my neighbors.

Memory lapses seem to be abundant this election year. 

Maybe the motto of the Parents Coalition should be "We keep files so you don't have to."

Time to Investigate Pearson in Texas by Jason Stanford

Time to Investigate Pearson in Texas by Jason Stanford

Thanks to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the charitable arm of testing giant Pearson will pay $7.7 million to end his investigation into whether it was illegally helping its for-profit parent company. This comes as a shock to Texans, where Pearson has an eye-popping $462-million testing contract, as opposed to New York where Pearson is only getting $32 million. The surprise isn’t that a special interest cut corners at taxpayers expense but that a state attorney general can investigate it. It’s simply not done here, but then again, why isn’t Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, now running for governor, investigating the Pearson Foundation?...

Common Core Breaks the Rules

Ever hear about a deal that is too good to be true?

In MoCo, our BOE likes these deals.  Votes in closed session, no accountability, and no oversight. 

I wish I never left NY.   

Is a deal that doesn't pass in NY good for our kids in MCPS?  Probably not, but who is going to say no?

From today's Washington Post:

Pearson Charitable Foundation, the nonprofit arm of educational publishing giant Pearson Inc., has agreed to pay a $7.7 million settlement to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman after he determined that the foundation had created Common Core products to generate “tens of millions of dollars” for its corporate sister.“The law on this is clear: non-profit foundations cannot misuse charitable assets to benefit their affiliated for-profit corporations,” Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday.

Read more here.

How many teachers have "restrictions" on contact with MCPS students?

We now know that at least 2 teachers have spent years in MCPS classrooms while parents were unaware that Superintendents had placed "restrictions" on their ability to interact with students.

Superintendent Jerry Weast put "restrictions" on a teacher in 2000.  That fact came out in a lawsuit last year and was highlighted by The Washington Post in their September 29, 2012, editorial:

Read the letter then-Superintendent Jerry D. Weast gave to Mr. Picca in February 2000 and consider whether you would entrust your child to such a teacher. The letter instructed Mr. Picca not to engage in any “bodybuilding”-type of activities with students or have contact with them outside the classroom.

Superintendent Joshua Starr was in charge when "restrictions" were put on another teacher in 2011. We now know that it took Homeland Security and Baltimore County investigators to uncover what was going on in that MCPS classroom.

So the question for parents to ask today is this: 

How many MCPS teachers are in classrooms today with "restrictions" on their ability to interact with their students?  

We know about the two above, how many more are there?